Decisions · 86407531
In re American Furniture Warehouse CO
Serial No. 86407531 · Decided 2018-04-23 · Other
What happened
For a stylized “American Furniture Warehouse / Lifestyle Furniture” logo used on retail furniture stores, the Board agreed the wording is merely descriptive of a place and type of store, but let the applicant keep the phrase “American Furniture Warehouse” unrestricted by relying on proof it had already become distinctive through use, so long as the applicant separately disclaims the generic words “Furniture Warehouse” and the second use of “Furniture” in the logo.
The marks
Applicant
Stylized design mark consisting of a curved letter "A" beginning the word "AMERICAN" (with stripes on the left side of the A and a swooping ribbon design filled with stars on the right, with an outer line that turns and dots the letter "I" with one star), under which appears "FURNITURE WAREHOUSE", under which appears "LIFESTYLE FURNITURE"
"Retail furniture stores," in International Class 35
Why this decision is significant
Precedential decision clarifying that a generic term may sit inside a Section 2(f)-in-part claim for a larger composite so long as it is separately disclaimed — correcting a common examining-attorney practice and mapping the descriptiveness/genericness disclaimer interplay for composite marks.
Research significance is Trademark Valet's editorial rating of how useful a decision is to practitioners. It is not a statement of precedential weight — that is the separate Precedential field, which comes from the Board.
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The original record
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